The Urban Design Forum (UDF) is marking the beginning of UN-Habitat’s Urban October today. Urban October is a series of events around the world that officially commences with the global observance of World Habitat Day on the first Monday of the month (6 October) and ends with World Cities Day on Friday 31 October.

In 2025 World Habitat Day, first celebrated in 1986, is promoting approaches to effective crisis response, while World Cities Day, first celebrated in 2014 and being hosted by Bogotá, Colombia this year, will be linked to the theme of people-centred smart cities with a focus on how data-driven decision making, technology, and AI can be used to improve urban life and to recover from current crises.

In advance of World Habitat Day, UN Secretary General António Guterres has recognised the vital leadership roles played by mayors and local governments, and released a statement that “a city is more than bricks and mortar. It is the promise of home”.

Guterres and UN-Habitat are highlighting the dire circumstances whereby in 2024 alone conflict, political instability, and the climate emergency forced more than 120 million people from their homes – most seeking safety in cities and towns already under growing pressure.

Guterres has also highlighted the role of cities as places where “solutions can take root and grow”, adding “when we plan for inclusion, newcomers help to drive economies, strengthen communities, and enrich culture”.

Likewise the executive director of UN-Habitat, Anacláudia Marinheiro Centeno Rossbach of Brazil, is drawing attention to the nearly 3 billion people in the world who suffer from inadequate housing, including more than 1.1 billion who live in informal settlements and slums.

Rossbach has called for housing to be put at the heart of crisis response globally. She has stated that crisis does not have to mean despair and that UN-Habitat regularly sees communities rise again when housing, land, and basic services are prioritised, adding “when we rebuild homes, we rebuild hope”.

On 30 September UN-Habitat announced four initiatives that will be presented with its Scroll of Honour Award in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday 6 October. These awards recognise innovative contributions to advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities. This year the four initiatives and awardees are:

The “Hydroponic Farm-in-a-Box” a solar-powered, circular farming innovation built from recycled plastics (Israel Smart, Jos Plateau, Nigeria).
“Housing Monitor”, a platform for enabling vulnerable residents to report eviction threats and access legal and social protection (Public Works Studio, Beirut, Lebanon)
A volunteer-driven housing rehabilitation model to restore unsafe homes across Portugal (Just a Change, Lisbon, Portugal); and
“UTOPIAS”, a model of urban regeneration, reclaiming neglected public spaces to create inclusive hubs for culture, health, education, and care, rooted in equity and community participation (Clara Marina Brugada Molina, Mexico City, Mexico). See also ‘Living proof that you can spend money on the poor’: Utopia comes to Mexico City – The Guardian, 2024.

UN-Habitat is the United Nations entity working for sustainable urbanisation through programmes in more than 90 countries to support policymakers and communities to create socially and environmentally sustainable cities and towns. Urban October is promoted by UN-Habitat as an annual focal point for bringing people together to explore how we respond to urban challenges and harness innovation to build better cities.

For more information see unhabitat.org/urban-october-2025 and urbanoctober.unhabitat.org/

UN-Habitat has made a 3-page Urban October toolkit of suggested actions available to download here: UrbanOctober_toolkit_2025

In addition UN-Habitat has published an event calendar covering relevant events timed throughout Urban October: